Cedar Creek to benefit from Giving Tuesday

The Civil War Trust nonprofit organization will be launching an online Giving Tuesday campaign to fundraise for land conservation at the Cedar Creek battlefield in Middletown.

According to a news release, the campaign will start at midnight tonight and run until Tuesday, the day designated by 92nd Street Y to be Giving Tuesday. In line with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday – the post-Thanksgiving trifecta of shopping holidays – Giving Tuesday is meant to be a day devoted to giving back via donations, volunteering or other support toward charities.

Meg Martin, communications manager at Civil War Trust, said this is the first major effort the nonprofit has made in line with the Giving Tuesday movement.

“Giving Tuesday is another way that we’re experimenting and diving into online fundraising tools,” she said. “I think we’ll sort of assess as the days go by – we’ll see how the weekend goes and ideally we’ll be all set as we move into Tuesday.”

She said the trust decided on Cedar Creek because of the manageable size of the project. An anonymous donor came to the Civil War Trust promising a $12,500 match donation for the project, which means that Cedar Creek can receive up to $25,000.

The money will go toward purchasing a few acres around the 8th Vermont monument that Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park already possesses. According to Eric Campbell, the park’s chief of interpretation, the historic monument is one of three on the battlefield and the only one the park owns.

Additionally, Campbell said the tract of land the fundraising would help pay for includes Cedar Creek land that then future president Rutherford B. Hayes’ company fought on.

“He was almost captured during that phase of the battle,” he said. “It’s a pretty important piece of property for not only the historical value but also the visitor access.”

Currently, the road that gives park visitors access to the monument isn’t wide enough for bus tours, and Campbell said the addition would also assist in development efforts within the park.

Although the park boasts around 1,500 acres, the National Park Service only owns about 90 – the rest is owned by partner groups. Campbell said that of those 90 acres, the Civil War Trust has helped to purchase around 64 because of the park’s purchasing limitations as an extension of the federal government.

“They’ve been very active here at Cedar Creek in helping us out,” he said.